Location-based forwarding over multiple networks

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for enabling signals directed to a first telecommunications terminal to be forwarded intelligently to a second telecommunications terminal in the vicinity of the first terminal is disclosed. In particular, the illustrative embodiment automatically forwards signals from a first terminal to the closest terminal for which the first terminal is authorized to do so, wherein the first terminal and the closest authorized terminal belong to any respective ones of a plurality of networks. The illustrative embodiment employs a location coordinator that, in concert with logic embedded in each of the networks, determines the closest authorized terminal.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The following patent applications are incorporated by reference:

-   -   1. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/375,663, filed Feb. 27,        2003, entitled “Authorization-Based Forwarding”;    -   2. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/375,237, filed Feb. 27,        2003, entitled “Location-Based Forwarding”;    -   3. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/375,252, filed Feb. 27,        2003, entitled “Server-Based Discovery For Location-Based        Forwarding”; and    -   4. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/375,641, filed Feb. 27,        2003, entitled “Peer-to-Peer Discovery For Location-Based        Forwarding”.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to telecommunications in general, and, inparticular, to forwarding a call or message from one telecommunicationsterminal to another.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Telephone calls are sometimes forwarded from one telephone to another.For example, when a user leaves his or her office to work in a computerlaboratory, the user might forward his or her office telephone to atelephone in the computer laboratory. The user thereby specifiesahead-of-time that any future call directed to his or her officetelephone should be redirected to the telephone in the computerlaboratory (i.e., a call directed to the office telephone will cause thecomputer laboratory telephone to “ring,” while the office telephone willnot ring).

As another example, when the user receives a call on his or her officetelephone, he or she might wish to transfer the call to anothertelephone (e.g., a secretary's telephone, etc.) while the call is inprogress. Alternatively, the user might wish to include another party inthe conversation by bridging the call to an appropriate telephone; thisis also known as conference calling.

Forwarding is also commonly employed for email. In particular, aforwarding mechanism is established (e.g., creating a .forward file in aUNIX-based system, etc.) so that future email messages addressed to afirst address are automatically forwarded to a second address.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a method for enabling signals (e.g., voice,video, text, etc.) directed to a first telecommunications terminal(e.g., telephone, computer, pager, etc.) to be forwarded to a secondtelecommunications terminal, which is or was in the “vicinity” of thefirst terminal. In particular, the illustrative embodiment automaticallyforwards signals directed to the first telecommunications terminal tothe closest telecommunications terminal that the first terminal isauthorized to forward to, wherein the first terminal and the closestauthorized terminal belong to any respective ones of a plurality ofnetworks.

The illustrative embodiment comprises: a receiver for receiving a firstlocation of a first telecommunications terminal; a memory for storing aforwarding record for the first telecommunications terminal; and aprocessor for (i) ascertaining the identity of a secondtelecommunications terminal that is located closest to the firstlocation, and (ii) populating the forwarding record so that a signaldirected to the first telecommunications terminal is forwarded to thesecond telecommunications terminal.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram of the salient components of exemplarywireless network 100 in the prior art.

FIG. 2 depicts a block diagram of the salient components of exemplarywireline network 200 in the prior art.

FIG. 3 depicts a block diagram of the salient components of exemplarywireless network 100, as depicted in FIG. 1, in accordance with thefirst illustrative embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 depicts a block diagram of the salient components of locationserver 310-i, as depicted in FIG. 3, in accordance with the firstillustrative embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 depicts a block diagram of the salient components of wirelessswitching center 150-i, as depicted in FIG. 1, in accordance with thesecond illustrative embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 depicts a block diagram of the salient components of exemplarywireline network 200, as depicted in FIG. 2, in accordance with thefirst illustrative embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 depicts a block diagram of the salient components of locationserver 610-i, as depicted in FIG. 6, in accordance with the firstillustrative embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 depicts a block diagram of the salient components of switch250-i, as depicted in FIG. 2, in accordance with the second illustrativeembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 depicts a block diagram of an architecture for enablinglocation-based forwarding across multiple wireless networks 100, asdepicted in FIG. 1, and/or multiple wireline networks 200, as depictedin FIG. 2, in accordance with the illustrative embodiments of thepresent invention.

FIG. 10 depicts a block diagram of the salient components of locationcoordinator 910, as depicted in FIG. 9, in accordance with theillustrative embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 11 depicts a flowchart of the operation of location coordinator910, as depicted in FIG. 9, and its interaction with wireless networks100, as depicted in FIG. 1, and wireline networks 200, as depicted inFIG. 2, in accordance with the illustrative embodiments of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Definitions—Although the illustrative embodiment is disclosed in thecontext of telephones, it will be clear to those skilled in the art howto use embodiments of the present invention for other devices such aspagers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), etc. Consequently, the term“contact identifier” and its inflected forms are defined as a string ofsymbols that uniquely specifies a telecommunications terminal (e.g.,telephone number, email address, Internet Protocol (IP) address, etc.).Similarly, for the purposes of this specification the term “call” isdefined to encompass all kinds of communications (e.g. telephone call,email message, interactive text chat, videoconference, etc.), and itwill be clear to those skilled in the art how to use embodiments of thepresent invention for such alternative means of communication.

For the purposes of this specification, the term “forwarding out” andits inflected forms are defined as forwarding a call from a firsttelecommunications terminal to a second telecommunications terminal as aresult of a forwarding request originating at the firsttelecommunications terminal. Similarly, for the purposes of thisspecification the term “forwarding in” and its inflected forms aredefined as forwarding a call from a first telecommunications terminal toa second telecommunications terminal as a result of a forwarding requestoriginating at the second telecommunications terminal.

For some kinds of communication, such as telephone calls and interactivetext chat, forwarding can be established either (i) before a call isinitiated, or (ii) during a call (i.e., while a call is in progress).For some other kinds of communication such as email, however, forwardingtypically applies to (i) only.

For case (i), a call can be forwarded from a first terminal to a secondterminal so that either (ia) only the second terminal is notified of theincoming call (i.e., only the second terminal “rings”), or (ib) both thefirst and second terminals are notified of the incoming call (i.e., bothterminals ring). For case (ii), a call can be forwarded from a firstterminal to a second terminal so that either (iia) the firstcommunications terminal no longer participates in the call (i.e., onlythe second terminal participates), or (iib) the first terminal stillparticipates in the call (i.e. both terminals participate).

Consequently, for the purposes of this specification: the term“redirecting” and its inflected forms are defined as forwarding a callor message in accordance with (ia) above; the term “connecting” and itsinflected forms are defined as forwarding a call or message inaccordance with (ib) above; the term “transferring” and its inflectedforms are defined as forwarding a call or message in accordance with(iia) above; and the term “bridging” and its inflected forms are definedas forwarding a call or message in accordance with (iib) above.

In addition, for the purposes of this specification: the term“redirecting out” and its inflected forms are defined as forwarding outa call or message in accordance with (ia) above; the term “connectingout” and its inflected forms are defined as forwarding out a call ormessage in accordance with (ib) above; the term “transferring out” andits inflected forms are defined as forwarding out a call or message inaccordance with (iia) above; and the term “bridging out” and itsinflected forms are defined as forwarding out a call or message inaccordance with (iib) above.

Similarly, for the purposes of this specification: the term “redirectingin” and its inflected forms are defined as forwarding in a call ormessage in accordance with (ia) above; the term “connecting in” and itsinflected forms are defined as forwarding in a call or message inaccordance with (ib) above; the term “transferring in” and its inflectedforms are defined as forwarding in a call or message in accordance with(iia) above; and the term “bridging in” and its inflected forms aredefined as forwarding in a call or message in accordance with (iib)above.

The Illustrative Embodiments—FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram of thesalient components of exemplary wireless network 100 in the prior art.As shown in FIG. 1, wireless network 100 comprises N wireless switchingcenters 150-1 through 150-N, where N is a positive integer, as is wellknown in the art. As shown in FIG. 1, wireless switching center 150-3communicates with M base stations 160-3-1 through 160-3-M, where M is apositive integer, as is also well known in the art. For clarity, basestations are shown for wireless switching center 150-3 only, even thougheach wireless switching center 150-i in wireless network 100 typicallyis connected to a respective plurality of base stations.

As shown in FIG. 1, base station 160-3-1 communicates wirelessly withwireless telecommunications terminals 120-1 through 120-U, where U is apositive integer, as is well known in the art. For clarity, wirelesstelecommunications terminals are shown for base station 160-3-1 only,even though each base station typically communicates with a respectiveplurality of telecommunications terminals.

FIG. 2 depicts a block diagram of the salient components of exemplarywireline network 200 (e.g., the Public Switched Telephone Network[PSTN], etc.) in the prior art. As shown in FIG. 2, wireline network 200comprises P switches 250-1 through 250-P, where P is a positive integer,as is well known in the art. As shown in FIG. 2, switch 250-3 isconnected to R subscriber loop carriers 260-3-1 through 260-3-R, where Ris a positive integer, as is also well known in the art. For clarity,subscriber loop carriers are shown for switch 250-3 only, even thougheach switch 250-i in wireless network 230 typically is connected to arespective plurality of subscriber loop carriers.

As shown in FIG. 2, subscriber loop carrier 260-3-1 is connected towireline telecommunications terminals 220-1 through 220-V, where V is apositive integer, either directly, or via private branch exchange 270,as is well known in the art. Again, in the interest of clarity, wirelinetelecommunications terminals are shown for subscriber loop carrier260-3-1 only, even though typically each base station communicates witha respective plurality of telecommunications terminals.

FIG. 3 depicts a block diagram of the salient components of exemplarywireless network 100, as depicted in FIG. 1, in accordance with thefirst illustrative embodiment of the present invention. In thisembodiment, each wireless switching center 150-i has associated locationserver 310-i. Location server 310-i keeps track of the respectivelocations of wireless telecommunications terminals in wireless switchingcenter 150-i's area of coverage, as disclosed below in the descriptionof FIG. 4.

FIG. 4 depicts a block diagram of the salient components of locationserver 310-i, as depicted in FIG. 3, in accordance with the firstillustrative embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 4,location server 310-i comprises receiver 410-i, processor 420-i, memory430-i, and transmitter 440-i.

Receiver 410-i, receives (i) current locations for telecommunicationsterminals in wireless switching center 150-i's area of coverage fromwireless switching center 150-i, and (ii) forwarding requests fromwireless switching center 150-i. As is well understood in the art,receiver 410-i can receive the locations of terminals in wirelessswitching center 150-i's area of coverage by a variety of methods (e.g.,a global positioning system [GPS] receiver embedded in each terminal,triangulation, radio beacons, radio-frequency fingerprinting [U.S. Pat.No. 6,393,294, incorporated by reference], etc.)

When receiver 410-i receives a location, it passes the data to processor420-i. Processor 420-i writes the location data to a location tablestored in memory 430-i, in well-known fashion. If the terminal alreadyhas an entry in the location table, its location is updated accordingly;otherwise (e.g., the associated terminal entered the corresponding areaof coverage, etc.), a new entry is added to the location table. In orderto prevent the location table from monotonically increasing in size andpotentially exhausting memory 430-i, wireless switching center 150-i cansend a notification message to receiver 410-i when a terminaldisconnects from wireless switching center 150-i (e.g., when theterminal is turned off, or when the terminal leaves wireless switchingcenter 150-i's area of coverage, etc.) In addition, each entry in thelocation table can have an associated timestamp, and processor 420-i canperiodically remove entries from the table with stale timestamps.

When receiver 410-i receives a forwarding request, it passes the requestto processor 420-i. In some embodiments, the request might contain thecurrent location of the requesting terminal, while in some otherembodiments, the request might solely specify the contact identifier ofthe terminal, in which case processor 420-i performs a lookup on memory430-i to determine the location of the requesting terminal.

Processor 420-i consults memory 430-i to find the terminal closest tothe requesting terminal. As is well-known in the art, there are avariety of ways to find the closest terminal, some more efficient thanothers. One way is to proceed through each entry in the list, computingthe distance between the requesting terminal and the entry's location,and then selecting the terminal corresponding to the entry with thesmallest distance. Another, more efficient way, is to maintain a spatialdatabase containing each terminal's location; as is well known in theart, a spatial database stores a set of points in n-dimensional space(e.g., two-dimensional Cartesian locations, etc.) and is designed toefficiently perform geometric-based queries such as finding a point inthe database closest to a particular location.

In some embodiments, an authorization facility might be employed toprevent forwarding of calls from a first telecommunications terminal toa second telecommunications terminal when such forwarding is notauthorized. For example, co-pending U.S. patent application“Authorization-Based Forwarding,” discloses such a facility that employsauthorization tables associated with each telecommunications terminalfor determining whether a particular forwarding operation is allowed. Inthe above-referenced U.S. patent application, the authorization tablesare stored in a centralized database; in some embodiments of the presentinvention, however, it might be advantageous to distribute theauthorization tables among location servers 310 (i.e., store thelocally-pertinent information in memories 430). In the latterarrangement, when a wireless telecommunications terminal moves from thecoverage area of one wireless switching center 150-i to another wirelessswitching center 150-j, processor 420-i can send the authorizationtables for that terminal to location server 310-j via transmitter 440-i,wireless switching center 150-i, and wireless switching center 150-j.

In embodiments employing an authorization facility, processor 420-iconsults memory 430-i to find the closest terminal for which therequested forwarding operation (e.g., transferring out, bridging in,etc.) is permitted. It will be clear to those skilled in the art how toincorporate an authorization facility into the techniques disclosedabove (e.g., linear traversal of the location table, a spatial databasequery, etc.) to enable processor 420-i to provide this functionality.

After the closest terminal (or the closest authorized terminal, asappropriate) is determined, processor 420-i sends, via transmitter440-i, a message to wireless switching center 150-i containing (i) thecontact identifier of the requesting terminal, and (ii) the contactidentifier of the closest terminal. As is well understood in the art,for forwarding out of telephone calls, the forwarding message causes (i)the forward flag to be enabled in the record for the firsttelecommunications terminal's contact identifier, and (ii) theforwarding number in this record to be set to the closest terminal'scontact identifier (or vice versa for forwarding in operations). Forforwarding out of email messages, the forwarding message is directed tothe appropriate email server to establish forwarding of messagesdirected to the requesting terminal (i.e., the requesting terminal'semail address) to the closest terminal's email address (or vice versafor forwarding in operations), as is well understood in the art. Forpeer-to-peer communications employing the Session Initiation Protocol(SIP), such as instant messaging (IM), the forwarding message isdirected to the appropriate SIP server; for forwarding out operations,this message specifies updating (a) the contact identifier (i.e., IPaddress) associated with the user of the requesting terminal t1, to (b)the closest terminal's IP address (or vice versa for forwarding inoperations), as is well understood in the art.

As will be understood by those skilled in the art, processor 420-i mightbe a programmed general-purpose processor, or a “hard-wired” orspecial-purpose processor. Similarly, memory 430-i can take a variety offorms, such as a random-access memory, a flash memory, a disk drive,etc.

FIG. 5 depicts a block diagram of the salient components of wirelessswitching center 150-i, as depicted in FIG. 1, in accordance with thesecond illustrative embodiment of the present invention. In thisembodiment, the functionality performed by location server 310-i in thefirst embodiment is performed by wireless switching center 150-i,thereby obviating the need for a separate location server 310-i.

As shown in FIG. 5, wireless switching center 150-i comprises receiver510-i, processor 520-i, memory 530-i, switching fabric 540-i, andtransmitter 550-i. As will be recognized by those skilled in the art,the components of wireless switching center 150-i shown in FIG. 5 aretypically found in a wireless switching center 150-i of the prior art(e.g., processor 520-i and memory 530-i typically support a multitude oftasks and services such as switching, handoffs, “caller ID,” etc.)Consequently, in this embodiment memory 530-i stores, in addition to thedata of the prior art, the location tables (and, if appropriate, localauthorization tables) stored in memory 430-i of location server 310-i inthe first illustrative embodiment; similarly, processor 520-i performs,in addition to the usual functions of the prior art, the logic oflocation server 310-i's processor 420-i in the first illustrativeembodiment, as disclosed above.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that some alternativeembodiments might employ a combination of the first and secondembodiments disclosed above. Such a combination would employ locationserver 310-i, as in the first embodiment, but would distribute thefunctionality concerning location and authorization between locationserver 310-i and wireless switch center 150-i. For example, some suchcombinations might store the authorization tables in memory 530-i andthe location table in memory 540-i, with processors 420-i and 520-iaccordingly dividing the logic disclosed above; it will be clear tothose skilled in the art how to make and use this combination, or othersuch possible combinations. It will also be appreciated by those skilledin the art that these combinations are functionally equivalent to thefirst and second embodiments disclosed above.

FIG. 6 depicts a block diagram of the salient components of exemplarywireline network 200, as depicted in FIG. 2, in accordance with thefirst illustrative embodiment of the present invention. In thisembodiment, each switch 250-i has associated location server 610-i.Location server 610-i keeps track of the respective locations ofwireline telecommunications terminals in switch 250-i's domain, asdisclosed below in the description of FIG. 4.

FIG. 7 depicts a block diagram of the salient components of locationserver 610-i, as depicted in FIG. 6, in accordance with the firstillustrative embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 7,location server 610-i comprises receiver 710-i, processor 720-i, memory730-i, and transmitter 740-i.

Memory 730-i stores a location table (and, if appropriate, authorizationtables) as disclosed above for memory 430-i.

Receiver 710-i receives (i) current locations of cordless wirelinetelecommunications terminals (for example, short-range cordlesstelephones , as are well-known in the art) in switch 250-i's domain fromswitch 250-i, and (ii) forwarding requests from switch 250-i. Whenreceiver 710-i receives one or more terminal locations, it passes thedata to processor 720-i. Processor 720-i writes the location data to alocation table stored in memory 730-i in well-known fashion.

The location table in memory 730-i differs from the location table inmemory 430-i (i.e., for wireless telecommunications terminals) in thatthe contact identifiers stored in the location table rarely change,since a contact identifier typically is within the domain of aparticular switch 250-i for very long periods of time, if notpermanently. In addition, many of the locations in the location table inmemory 730-i are static (e.g., corresponding to conventional cordedwireline telephones, etc.), thus obviating the need for storing atimestamp and checking for stale entries.

The location table in memory 730-i specifies a one-to-one relationbetween contact identifiers and locations, as is the case for thelocation table in memory 430-i. For wireline telecommunicationsterminals that are uniquely identified by a contact identifier (e.g., apayphone, an office desktop phone connected to a PBX, etc.), as is thecase for wireless telecommunications terminals as practiced in the art,memory 730-i stores locations in the same manner as memory 430-i. Forwireline telecommunications terminals that are not uniquely identifiedby a contact identifier, however (e.g., a wireline telephone in aresidential house with a single telephone line and multiple wirelinetelephones, etc.), the location table in memory 730-i specifies a single“virtual” location for the contact identifier (e.g., the geographiccenter of multiple locations, etc.)

When receiver 710-i receives a forwarding request, it functions in thesame manner as receiver 410-i (i.e., it passes the request to processor720-i). Processor 720-i consults memory 730-i to find the terminalclosest to the requesting terminal (or, as appropriate, the closestauthorized terminal) in the same manner as processor 420-i above.

After the closest terminal is determined, processor 720-i sends, viatransmitter 740-i, a message to switch 250-i containing the sameinformation as disclosed above for processor 420-i (i.e., the contactidentifiers of the requesting terminal and the closest terminal). Fortelephone calls, switch 250-i, upon receiving the message, sets theappropriate record's forwarding flag and forwarding field as disclosedabove for wireless switching center 150-i. For forwarding out of emailmessages, the forwarding message is directed to the appropriate emailserver to establish forwarding of (a) messages directed to therequesting terminal's email address, to (b) the closest terminal's emailaddress (or vice versa for forwarding in operations), as disclosedabove. For peer-to-peer communications, the forwarding message isdirected to the appropriate SIP server, and specifies updating of theappropriate IP address, as disclosed above.

FIG. 8 depicts a block diagram of the salient components of switch250-i, as depicted in FIG. 2, in accordance with the second illustrativeembodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 8, switch 250-icomprises receiver 810-i, processor 820-i, memory 830-i, switchingfabric 840-i, and transmitter 850-i.

As will be recognized by those skilled in the art, the components ofswitch 250-i shown in FIG. 8 are typically found in a switch 250-i ofthe prior art. Consequently, in this embodiment memory 830-i stores, inaddition to the data of the prior art, the location table (and, ifappropriate, local authorization tables) stored in memory 730-i oflocation server 610-i in the first illustrative embodiment; similarly,processor 820-i performs, in addition to the usual functions of theprior art, the logic of location server 610-i's processor 720-i in thefirst illustrative embodiment, as disclosed above. It will beappreciated by those skilled in the art that some alternativeembodiments might employ a combination of the first and secondembodiments comprising location server 610-i and switch 250-i, asdisclosed above for location server 310-i and wireless switching center150-i.

The Illustrative Embodiment for Multiple Networks—Up to this point, thespecification has disclosed implementations of location-based forwardingfor wireless network 100 and wireline network 200 in isolation. However,it might be advantageous to have location-based forwarding work acrosswireless network 100 and wireline network 200. For example, a user of awireless telecommunications terminal might want to forward a call to theclosest telecommunications terminal, regardless of whether the closestterminal is wireless or wireline. In addition, it might be desirable tohave location-based forwarding work across multiple wireless and/orwireline networks. For example, currently in the United States there areseveral wireless service providers (e.g., AT&T Wireless, VerizonWireless, Sprint PCS, Cingular Wireless, etc.), and in some embodimentsa user might want to automatically forward a call to the closesttelecommunications terminal, regardless of whether that terminal issubscribed to the same service as the forwarding terminal. The foregoingdisclosure teaches how to augment the illustrative embodiments disclosedabove to provide this functionality.

FIG. 9 depicts a block diagram of an architecture for enablinglocation-based forwarding across multiple wireless networks 100, asdepicted in FIG. 1, and/or multiple wireline networks 200, as depictedin FIG. 2, in accordance with the illustrative embodiments of thepresent invention. As shown in FIG. 9, the architecture compriseslocation coordinator 910, X wireless networks 100-1 through 100-X, whereX is a positive integer, and Y wireline networks 100-1 through 100-Y,where Y is a positive integer. As shown in FIG. 9, location coordinator910 communicates with each wireless network 100 and each wirelinenetwork 200 via respective bidirectional communication channels. Theoperation of location coordinator 910, and its interaction with wirelessnetworks 100-1 through 100-X and wireline networks 100-1 through 100-Y,is disclosed below in the descriptions of FIG. 10 and FIG. 11.

FIG. 10 depicts a block diagram of the salient components of locationcoordinator 910 in accordance with the illustrative embodiments of thepresent invention. As shown in FIG. 10, location coordinator 910comprises receiver 1010, processor 1020, memory 1030, and transmitter1040, as are well-known in the art. The operation of these components inaccordance with the illustrative embodiments of the present invention isdisclosed below in the description of FIG. 11.

FIG. 11 depicts a flowchart of the operation of location coordinator910, wireless networks 100, and wireline networks 200, in accordancewith the illustrative embodiments of the present invention.

At task 1110, receiver 1010 receives a forwarding request from thenetwork 100-i (or 200-i) corresponding to the telecommunicationsterminal t1 that submitted the request, and passes this forwardingrequest to processor 1020. The forwarding request comprises (i) t1'scontact identifier, (ii) t1's location, (iii) the contact identifier ofthe telecommunications terminal t2 in network 100-i (or 200-i) closestto t1, and (iv) the location of t2.

At task 1120, processor 1020 broadcasts, via transmitter 1040, a queryto every wireless and wireline network (except 100-i [or 200-i])specifying the location of to and requesting the contact identifier andlocation of the terminal in that network closest to t1. As will beappreciated by those skilled in the art, the query might equivalentlyrequest, instead of the location of the closest terminal, the distancebetween the closest terminal and t1. Similarly, for embodimentsemploying an authorization facility, the query would specify therequested forwarding operation (e.g., transferring out, bridging in,etc.) and request the closest terminal for which the forwardingoperation is permitted.

At task 1130, receiver 1010 receives responses to the query and passesthese responses to processor 1020.

At task 1140, processor 1020 selects, from among t2 and all theresponses, the telecommunications terminal t3 closest to t1.

At task 1150, processor 1020 sends, via transmitter 1040, a forwardingmessage to network 100-i (or 200-i) to effect forwarding from t1'scontact identifier to t3's contact identifier. As is well understood inthe art, for telephone calls the forwarding message is directed to theappropriate switch or wireless switching center, which causes: (i) theforward flag to be enabled in the record for the firsttelecommunications terminal's contact identifier, and (ii) theforwarding number in this record to be set to terminal t3's contactidentifier. For email messages, the forwarding message is directed tothe appropriate email server to establish forwarding of messagesdirected to t1 (i.e., terminal t1's email address) to terminal t3'semail address, as is well understood in the art. For peer-to-peercommunications employing the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), such asinstant messaging (IM), the forwarding message is an update messagedirected to the appropriate SIP server for updating the contactidentifier (i.e., IP address) associated with the user of terminal t1 toterminal t3's IP address, as is well understood in the art.

It is to be understood that the above-described embodiments are merelyillustrative of the present invention and that many variations of theabove-described embodiments can be devised by those skilled in the artwithout departing from the scope of the invention. It is thereforeintended that such variations be included within the scope of thefollowing claims and their equivalents.

1. An apparatus comprising: a receiver for receiving a first location ofa first telecommunications terminal; a transmitter for: sending a firstquery to a first network of telecommunications terminals, wherein saidfirst query requests the identity of the telecommunications terminal insaid first network located closest to said first location, and sending asecond query to a second network of telecommunications terminals,wherein said second query requests the identity of thetelecommunications terminal in said second network located closest tosaid first location; and a processor for receiving a first response tosaid first query that identifies a second telecommunications terminal,receiving a second response to said second query that identifies a thirdtelecommunications terminal, selecting, from said secondtelecommunications terminal and said third telecommunications terminal,the telecommunications terminal closer to said first location, andsending a forwarding message that causes a signal directed to said firsttelecommunications terminal to be forwarded to the selectedtelecommunications terminal.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein: saidreceiver is also for receiving a forwarding operation selected from thegroup consisting of: redirecting out, transferring out, bridging out,and connecting out; and said forwarding message is based on saidforwarding operation.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein: said firstresponse comprises at least one of: the location of said secondtelecommunications terminal, and the distance between said secondtelecommunications terminal and said first location; and said secondresponse comprises at least one of: the location of said thirdtelecommunications terminal, and the distance between said thirdtelecommunications terminal and said first location.
 4. The apparatus ofclaim 1 wherein at least one of: said first telecommunications terminal,said second telecommunications terminal, and said thirdtelecommunications terminal is wireless.
 5. An apparatus comprising: areceiver for receiving a first location associated with a firsttelecommunications terminal; a transmitter for: sending a first query toa first network of telecommunications terminals, wherein said firstquery requests the identity of the telecommunications terminal in saidfirst network located closest to said first location, and sending asecond query to a second network of telecommunications terminals,wherein said second query requests the identity of thetelecommunications terminal in said second network located closest tosaid first location; and a processor for receiving a first response tosaid first query that identifies a second telecommunications terminal,receiving a second response to said second query that identifies a thirdtelecommunications terminal, selecting, from said secondtelecommunications terminal and said third telecommunications terminal,the telecommunications terminal closer to said first location, andsending a forwarding message that causes a signal directed to theselected telecommunications terminal to be forwarded to said firsttelecommunications terminal.
 6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein: saidreceiver is also for receiving a forwarding operation selected from thegroup consisting of: redirecting in, transferring in, bridging in, andconnecting in; and said forwarding message is based on said forwardingoperation.
 7. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein: said first responsecomprises at least one of: the location of said secondtelecommunications terminal, and the distance between said secondtelecommunications terminal and said first location; and said secondresponse comprises at least one of: the location of said thirdtelecommunications terminal, and the distance between said thirdtelecommunications terminal and said first location.
 8. The apparatus ofclaim 5 wherein at least one of: said first telecommunications terminal,said second telecommunications terminal, and said thirdtelecommunications terminal is wireless.
 9. An apparatus comprising: areceiver for receiving a first location of a first telecommunicationsterminal; a transmitter for: sending a first query to a first network oftelecommunications terminals, wherein said first query requests theidentity of a second telecommunications terminal, wherein said secondtelecommunications terminal is a telecommunications terminal: thatbelongs to said first network, that is closest to said first location,and to which said first telecommunications terminal is authorized toforward signals, and sending a second query to a second network oftelecommunications terminals, wherein said second query requests theidentity of a third telecommunications terminal, wherein said thirdtelecommunications terminal is a telecommunications terminal: thatbelongs to said second network, that is closest to said first location,and to which said first telecommunications terminal is authorized toforward signals; and a processor for receiving a first response to saidfirst query, receiving a second response to said second query,selecting, from said second telecommunications terminal and said thirdtelecommunications terminal, the telecommunications terminal closer tosaid first location, and sending a forwarding message that causes asignal directed to said first telecommunications terminal to beforwarded to the selected telecommunications terminal.
 10. The apparatusof claim 9 wherein: said receiver is also for receiving a forwardingoperation selected from the group consisting of: redirecting out,transferring out, bridging out, and connecting out; said first queryspecifies said forwarding operation; said first response is based onsaid forwarding operation; said second query specifies said forwardingoperation; said second response is based on said forwarding operation;and said forwarding message is based on said forwarding operation. 11.The apparatus of claim 9 wherein: said first response comprises at leastone of: the location of said second telecommunications terminal, and thedistance between said second telecommunications terminal and said firstlocation; and said second response comprises at least one of: thelocation of said third telecommunications terminal, and the distancebetween said third telecommunications terminal and said first location.12. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein at least one of: said firsttelecommunications terminal, said second telecommunications terminal,and said third telecommunications terminal is wireless.
 13. An apparatuscomprising: a receiver for receiving a first location of a firsttelecommunications terminal; a transmitter for: sending a first query toa first network of telecommunications terminals, wherein said firstquery requests the identity of a second telecommunications terminal,wherein said second telecommunications terminal is a telecommunicationsterminal: that belongs to said first network, that is closest to saidfirst location, and from which said first telecommunications terminal isauthorized to receive forwarded signals, and sending a second query to asecond network of telecommunications terminals, wherein said secondquery requests the identity of a third telecommunications terminal,wherein said third telecommunications terminal is a telecommunicationsterminal: that belongs to said second network, that is closest to saidfirst location, and from which said first telecommunications terminal isauthorized to receive forwarded signals; and a processor for receiving afirst response to said first query, receiving a second response to saidsecond query, selecting, from said second telecommunications terminaland said third telecommunications terminal, the telecommunicationsterminal closer to said first location, and sending a forwarding messagethat causes a signal directed to the selected telecommunicationsterminal to be forwarded to said first telecommunications terminal. 14.The apparatus of claim 13 wherein: said receiver is also for receiving aforwarding operation selected from the group consisting of: redirectingin, transferring in, bridging in, and connecting in; said first queryspecifies said forwarding operation; said first response is based onsaid forwarding operation; said second query specifies said forwardingoperation; said second response is based on said forwarding operation;and said forwarding message is based on said forwarding operation. 15.The apparatus of claim 13 wherein: said first response comprises atleast one of: the location of said second telecommunications terminal,and the distance between said second telecommunications terminal andsaid first location; and said second response comprises at least one of:the location of said third telecommunications terminal, and the distancebetween said third telecommunications terminal and said first location.16. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein at least one of: said firsttelecommunications terminal, said second telecommunications terminal,and said third telecommunications terminal is wireless.
 17. A methodcomprising: receiving a first location of a first telecommunicationsterminal; sending a first query to a first network of telecommunicationsterminals, wherein said first query requests the identity of thetelecommunications terminal in said first network located closest tosaid first location; sending a second query to a second network oftelecommunications terminals, wherein said second query requests theidentity of the telecommunications terminal in said second networklocated closest to said first location; receiving a first response tosaid first query that identifies a second telecommunications terminal;receiving a second response to said second query that identifies a thirdtelecommunications terminal; selecting, from said secondtelecommunications terminal and said third telecommunications terminal,the telecommunications terminal closer to said first location; andsending a forwarding message that causes a signal directed to said firsttelecommunications terminal to be forwarded to the selectedtelecommunications terminal.
 18. The method of claim 17 furthercomprising: receiving a forwarding operation associated with said firsttelecommunications terminal; wherein: said forwarding operation isselected from the group consisting of: redirecting out, transferringout, bridging out, and connecting out; and said forwarding message isbased on said forwarding operation.
 19. A method comprising: receiving afirst location of a first telecommunications terminal; sending a firstquery to a first network of telecommunications terminals, wherein saidfirst query requests the identity of the telecommunications terminal insaid first network located closest to said first location; sending asecond query to a second network of telecommunications terminals,wherein said second query requests the identity of thetelecommunications terminal in said second network located closest tosaid first location; receiving a first response to said first query thatidentifies a second telecommunications terminal; receiving a secondresponse to said second query that identifies a third telecommunicationsterminal; selecting, from said second telecommunications terminal andsaid third telecommunications terminal, the telecommunications terminalcloser to said first location; and sending a forwarding message thatcauses a signal directed to the selected telecommunications terminal tobe forwarded to said first telecommunications terminal.
 20. The methodof claim 19 further comprising: receiving a forwarding operationassociated with said first telecommunications terminal; wherein: saidforwarding operation is selected from the group consisting of:redirecting in, transferring in, bridging in, and connecting in; andsaid forwarding message is based on said forwarding operation.